True Friends for Life
by Younger P
Summary: Wanting to learn more of Greninja's mysterious transformation, Ash dedicates the entirety of his time into training while appearing to neglect Pikachu. His friends debate on the matter, but words from one Performer who has longed for Ash's attention might bring things to perspective. One-shot with hinted AmourShipping, AshxSerena, SatoSere.
**Truth be told, I wanted to write something like this when the form had made its first debut in Japan, but plenty has already happened there that gives me more than enough to write with. I actually had some spare time to drum this up.**

* * *

It was another beautiful day in the region of Kalos. The sun was shining. The Flying-types were singing, further attesting their joyful gratitude to the simple and peaceful life they lived. The flowers were in bloom, enriching the land with fragrant blends of soft colors and scents.

It was an ideal day to travel out in the open and wild fields as Ash and his friends continued their journey to fulfill their respective dreams.

Ash wanted to become a Pokémon Master for a long time now and the Kalos League was nearly a step away from him. His endearing Kalos team was poised to go beyond the limits once the time came and powerful opponents waited for them.

Fresh from her latest victory, Serena now possessed three gorgeous Princess Keys, qualifying her to participate in the Master Class and go toe-to-toe with Aria and few other aspiring Performers for the title of Kalos Queen.

Clemont and Bonnie followed along to primarily learn and share their experiences for their own personal growths. For Clemont, it was to become a more decisive, confident, and competent inventor and Gym Leader for Lumiose City.

Bonnie was super eager for the day she would become of age and travel around the world as an independent Pokémon Trainer. She has already gained a lot of hands-on experience by taking care of her brother's Dedenne and the mysterious Squishy.

Her other main goal was to find a dependable wife for her brother, which was, of course, still a work in progress regardless of Clemont's objections.

Moving along, it was reaching the middle of the day and the scenery was too remarkable to pass up. As such, the gang declared it was time for a lunch break, further confirmed by the ravenous rumblings of Ash's stomach.

Letting out all their Pokémon, setting up the table, and preparing the food happened in a matter of moments. The plates and utensils were in place. The Pokémon bowls were filled. The promise of Serena's sweet Poké Puffs for dessert hung in the air, most particularly for Chespin.

It was time to eat.

The gang went at such a steady pace that they did not realize that Ash had already cleaned up his plate and had placed it to the side, signaling the termination of his meal. This was rather unusual as he would usually snag seconds or thirds.

"Ash, what's up?" Clemont prompted.

"Sorry, guys, but I'm just anxious to burn all this extra energy and train like there's no tomorrow," Ash explained.

"But why the rush?" Serena asked.

"I've actually been thinking about something big," Ash answered. "You guys watched me battle with Greninja plenty of times now, right?" The group nodded. "Then you should recall those strange moments where Greninja became super powerful all of a sudden."

"You mean with all that water and how it kinda looked like you?" Bonnie described.

"Sawyer described it along the lines of you two fusing or something like that," Serena added. "I think it was more of you 'becoming' Greninja."

"Yeah! That's it," Ash confirmed. "Olympia said that Greninja was special and had a hidden power that would make it stronger than any other Greninja. This power seems to resonate with our bond. And Professor Sycamore thought that it might be an undiscovered Mega Evolution."

"But you don't have a Key Stone or a Mega Stone," Clemont pointed out. "I really don't think it's a Mega Evolution under that context."

"I know, but this power almost comes close to it," Ash continued. "I can feel it. Back when we faced Alain and his Mega Charizard, we barely got a hit in before we lost. I really felt how strong Charizard is through Greninja. Not to mention that Sawyer and his Sceptile are catching up to us. I know they'll be capable of Mega Evolution when we meet up again at the Kalos League. I want to understand this power more so that the next time we meet, we won't lose to anyone. We'll even surpass Mega Evolution. We'll give it all we got!"

"I'd like to see that," Serena commented offhandedly with a fond smile.

"Greninja, ready to go?" Ash called out. "The rest of you can take your time. No need to rush!"

From among the group of Pokémon, Greninja sensed he was being summoned and quickly poured the remaining contents of the bowl over his tongue scarf and into his mouth. The Ninja Pokémon stood with cheeks still bloated from Pokémon food still leftover to swallow before leaping off to action with swiftness befitting his kind.

Hawlucha, Talonflame, and Noivern exchanged quizzical glances with one another. As their Trainer was only calling for Greninja to finish, they merely shrugged and continued eating at a casual pace.

Pikachu, however, did not look pleased. He had expected a greater display of loyalty from his teammates than that. They always trained together as a team. Even though Ash had said that they were free to take their time, that didn't mean that they would skip out on training entirely. Wanting to get a head-start into training as well, the Mouse Pokémon stuffed his mouth full with his remaining food. His red cheeks were more notably rounded as a result of his hurried consumption.

"Pii-ka Pika!" Pikachu declared, tossing his bowl aside and prepared to run after Ash and Greninja.

At the same time, Chespin had finished his bowl and waved it in his hand, signaling for possible second helpings. Pikachu was about to go around him when the Spiky Nut Pokémon inadvertently swung his bowl back and clocked Pikachu squarely in the face.

"Oh, no!" Clemont yelped, having witnessed the display.

"Pika down!" Bonnie cried. "Pika down!"

"Come on!" Serena beckoned, quickly getting to her feet to head over to the scene.

"Ch-Ches?!" Chespin stuttered, slowly comprehending his mistake.

Bunnelby, Hawlucha, Noivern, Talonflame, and Sylveon abandoned their bowls and gathered around Pikachu to inspect the damage. Dedenne left Squishy behind on their shared rock perch, the latter still absorbing sunlight for sustenance. Pancham was laughing at Chespin's stupidity before a glare from Braixen got him to sober up quickly. Luxray gazed solemnly from his spot. There was no point for him to get involved with all the attention Pikachu had at the moment. In any case, he abstained from eating until everything would be back to normal.

Clemont broke through the small crowd and got on his knees to check Pikachu's face while Serena and Bonnie anxiously observed from the background. Chespin was fidgeting in place with the empty bowl still in his hands, already feeling super guilty about the whole thing.

"There's nothing to worry about," Clemont said, glancing back at the girls with a reassuring smile. "It's a mild bruise that'll take less than a day to go away."

"I didn't think food bowls could hit that hard," Serena remarked.

"It shouldn't interfere with training, but I'll tell Ash what happened so that he'll make the final call," Clemont announced, standing back up with Pikachu in his arms. He then looked at Ash's remaining Pokémon. "I think it'd be a good idea to follow if you guys have already finished lunch."

Having been reminded of their remaining food, the three Flying-types scrambled for their respective bowls and scarfed down whatever was left for the additional energy within seconds. Upon taking the last bite in, Hawlucha, Noivern, and Talonflame turned to Clemont with stuffed cheeks. They hadn't finished chewing their food yet, but were eager to resume training.

Serena and Bonnie had no vocal comment over the matter.

 _Like Trainer, like Pokémon_ , the girls thought with bemused expressions.

"Uh, good enough," Clemont commended, having thought the same.

The Lumiose City Gym Leader, along with the remainder of Ash's Pokémon, took off to look for the eager Trainer. They stumbled upon a larger grass field at a lower elevation, watching on sight Ash and Greninja synchronizing their movements and gestures. Had Greninja been in his new mysterious form, it would have come closer to watching a mirror, in a sense.

The training pair paused upon seeing Clemont and the rest of their team above the small hill.

"Hey, guys!" Ash yelled and waved. "Down here!"

"Hey, Ash," Clemont responded upon joining him. "There was a slight mishap from lunch and Pikachu got hit pretty hard on the face with a food bowl."

"You alright, buddy?" Ash asked, leaning close to the Mouse Pokémon cradled in Clemont's arms for personal inspection. "Hmm, you look fine to me."

"Thought you should know anyway," Clemont explained. "Is Pikachu still good for whatever training you have planned?"

"See, I was actually going to have the others work on whatever they want," Ash admitted with a sheepish look. "I figured they could practice on aerial maneuvers or other tactics. I'm actually focused on understanding Greninja's hidden powers right now. I feel like the more united we are, the greater the power we can unleash."

"I see," Clemont said with an accepting nod, placing Pikachu back on the ground. "I think the girls are cleaning up before going off to do their own things. Mind cleaning up for after dinner tonight?"

"Sure," Ash replied.

Clemont gave a grateful smile before heading back to their resting spot. Pikachu looked back to see his Trainer and Greninja going at it again in mirroring each other's moves. A sudden gust of wind blew past him, prompting the Mouse Pokémon to watch Noivern having taken off freely into the air with Talonflame close behind.

Pikachu felt a small tap on the back of his head.

"Lucha?" Hawlucha inquired, holding a hand out.

The Wrestling Pokémon offered to spar with him as Noivern proved to be fairly strong at this point, not needing further guidance from him despite the fact that Noivern still looks up to him as an older brother figure. Talonflame alone was enough to watch over the Sound Wave Pokémon for now.

That, and Hawlucha preferred the ground as opposed to the air. There weren't as many opportunities to pose in the air as on the ground. As such, he flexed his arms out while waiting for Pikachu's answer.

Pikachu agreed and retreated into a battle stance, ignoring the nagging feeling that Ash appeared to be paying a lot of attention to Greninja as of late.

* * *

 _The following week…_

The gang was one step closer to their next destination, Glorio City, the location of the Master Class Showcase. The previous week had its ups and downs, from battling random Trainers upon eye contact to dealing with Team Rocket's troublesome schemes in stealing Pokémon.

The weather had been generally clear for a while now, but a few puffy white clouds had decided to take space in the sky this day. Nonetheless, it guaranteed a fair day to stay and camp out for the night.

They had just left a Pokémon Center from a small town this morning and it was getting close to sunset where they were in the middle of the wide route, so it would be a nice change of pace to camp despite the lack of luxuries the Pokémon Center would have compared to the outdoors. There was a quaint grove to the side of the road that appeared to be the ideal Trainer campsite.

With the notion collectively agreed upon, they released their Pokémon out into the open and prepared setting up camp for the end of the day. Clemont and Bonnie were already preparing dinner. Ash and Serena had set up their tents and collected the firewood. The Pokémon either helped speed up the assignments or were simply relaxing and taking in the fresh Kalos air.

"Hey, Greninja, let's get in a few minutes of extra training," Ash proposed out of the blue.

"Ash, I thought you were going to take it easy for the day," Serena reprimanded mildly, sporting a small disappointed pout. "You said you were going to help me come up with some more performance ideas for the Master Class."

"I know, but we still got some daylight and all this energy left to burn," Ash responded, pumping a fist close to his chin. "Besides, you never really needed my help with those kinds of things. I'm not very good with flashy moves. I'll help out tonight before we retire for the day, sound fair?"

"… I suppose," Serena sighed.

"Great," Ash affirmed, glancing at his approaching Greninja. "Let's get going!"

"Nin-ja," Greninja grunted, following his Trainer into the thicket of trees nearby.

Serena was used to Ash missing the cues at this point of time. It was true that she didn't need his help in coming up with performances. As selfish as it was for her, she had hoped that he would spend some time with her. Despite all the traveling together, they haven't had a meaningful conversation or heart-to-heart as of recently. He had been focused on his goals, which did give her plenty of time to work on training for the Master Class Showcase.

She also noticed that he had been a bit distant from her, Clemont, and Bonnie ever since he lost to Alain. She was sure that this distance had increased after their dangerous encounter with the legendary Zapdos, during which his Noibat had evolved into Noivern to settle the problem.

It also didn't help that Ash nearly endangered his life again, to which Serena wondered how she had not already suffered from a heart attack now with all of the insane stunts he had pulled off since finding him again. Jumping off the top of Prism Tower, getting lost in the bizarre Mirror World for a worrisome amount of hours, falling at a great height from Team Rocket's aircraft alongside Goodra and Florges, and diving into a volcano to rescue Talonflame while dealing with an enraged Moltres were some of said stunts immediately listed at the top of her head. The young Trainer had a major reckless streak that she secretly resented as that would've clearly meant losing him for good, but somehow looked past that and return to full admiration of his selflessness and courage. Still, their last perilous experience did reward him with a resilient Noivern at the end.

With the team of powerhouses he had now, she still wondered why he kept pushing himself to the edge. There was still plenty of time before the Kalos League and Serena felt that he was a remarkable Trainer already with the experience he had, and she kept the scope on his Kalos exploits so far. She was still trying to wrap her head around his previous adventures that he shared with the group during their down time.

Granted, Greninja's powerful form was a curious phenomenon in which she wanted to learn more about herself. But then, the answer had already been in front of her the whole time.

Ash was Ash, after all. He would never give up on whatever he would set his mind to, and that was a major quality that attracted her to him in the first place. He provided constant daily inspiration for her to follow and grow on her own.

Still, it was a bit unsettling that he just brushed her off like that. Or maybe she was just overthinking the situation.

As much as the Vaniville Town Performer wanted to believe that she was overcomplicating the matter, the troubled expression she caught from Pikachu still looking at the direction he left made it hard to think so otherwise.

"Hey, Serena!" Bonnie bellowed, waving to her as she and Clemont were heading her way.

"Great job setting up the tents," Clemont commended. "Wasn't Ash supposed to be with you?"

"He left to train with Greninja again," Serena explained.

"What?!" Bonnie exclaimed in outrage. "What about his other Pokémon? What about Pikachu?! I swear he's obsessed on training Greninja!"

"Bonnie," Serena attempted to comfort.

"Well, a Pokémon Trainer is allowed to train his or her Pokémon as they seem fit," Clemont reasoned. "We can't really judge Ash on how he's decided to train, even if he is putting particular emphasis on controlling Greninja's power."

"Yeah, but you've seen how quick he is to jump to train Greninja alone, more so than after that Mega Charizard battle," Bonnie retorted. "I wanted to see his other Pokémon in action more."

Standing by her feet on the ground, Dedenne and Squishy glanced upon her worriedly.

"Bonnie, let's not press the issue further," Clemont advised, placing his hands on her shoulders. "If it does somehow get out of hand, we'll confront Ash on it."

"Oh, all right," Bonnie relented, kneeling down to pick up Dedenne and Squishy.

"Let's get dinner ready," Clemont suggested keenly. "That should pull Ash back to us."

"Yippee!" Bonnie cheered, quickly bouncing back to her bubbly self. "I'm starving!"

Taking his little sister by the hand, Clemont guided her over to the cooking pot having over the fire. Serena stayed in place close to the tents, content that Bonnie was in good spirits. She then glanced down to where Pikachu still was and wondered if the Mouse Pokémon was any better having listened to the previous conversation now than before.

* * *

 _A few days later…_

The gang was still a ways away from Glorio City, much less any town at this rate. As such, they wound up camping for the most part. It was fortunate, though, that they had prepared for the trip and had plenty of supplies to last them a couple of weeks. By that point, they should reach civilization at the very least, probably sooner than that.

The area they were camping out in now tended to get rather misty in the mornings. Light moisture and fog was to be expected very early, but would dry up quickly upon reaching the regular waking hours.

Pikachu's ears twitched. He was still curled up in a ball next to Ash's pillow. Clemont's lethargic yawn echoed within their tent. The aspiring Lumiose inventor gave off a low mumble, forcing himself to stay awake. He mumbled out a good morning while reaching for his glasses.

Finding them and wearing them, he looked over to where Ash's sleeping bag was. Clemont blinked a few times before the sight finally connected something within his brilliant brain. His response time was justifiably slow given that he had woken up, but the sight gave him a bad feeling.

"W-Where's Ash?" Clemont inquired.

Pikachu quickly jerked himself awake upon the prompt.

"Pikapi?!" Pikachu gasped.

He saw for himself that his Trainer's sleeping bag was shy one Ash. It was unmade, which was kind of expected given his habits. The only clues that could indicate his whereabouts were his sleeping tank top and shorts left on top of the sleeping bag.

Pikachu and Clemont deduced that Ash must've gotten up early before any of them and had already changed into his normal clothes, which did strike as unusual as he was rarely the first to wake up in the group. Putting his shoes on, Clemont slowly stepped out of his tent with Pikachu following him, hoping to catch Ash nearby.

"Clemont?" Serena's tired voice asked as the young girl opened up her Shellder tent. "… I thought I heard Pikachu shout. What's going on?" Slipping her flip-flops on, she then got a better look of the outside once her drowsy sight cleared up. "And where's Ash?"

"That's what we'd like to know," Clemont remarked, looking into the girls' tent to see Bonnie still fast asleep with Dedenne and Squishy resting around her head. "Any ideas?"

"I might have one, but it's still too early in the morning for me to even consider it valid," Serena replied, rubbing an eye with a curled fist.

As if on cue, the sounds of rustling tree branches reverberated up to their campsite. Turning their heads to face the sounds' origin, Serena, Clemont, and Pikachu caught sight of a familiar pair swiftly leaping abound upon the higher levels. Ash was jumping along with Greninja upon precarious branches. He lacked his blue jacket and red cap, but was otherwise dressed for the day.

"Morning!" Ash yelled, catching sight of them from the corner of his eye while jumping tree to tree.

He was really lucky that he managed to avoid slamming into tree trunks in his path.

"Of all the crazy training exercises he's done, just watching this makes me feel sore already," Clemont groaned.

"That's still pretty awesome though," Serena commented rather breathlessly, watching Ash leap to lower branches with little difficulty.

"… Please tell me I'm still dreaming," a sleepy voice spoke from behind.

It was hard to tell if Bonnie was actually awake or not judging from her drowsy expression, lack of energy in her voice, and her slouching posture, which still made her kind of adorable with the Tyrantrum pajamas she had on.

"Uh…" Serena and Clemont had no immediate answer to give.

" _Yawn_ … If that was the case, I'd be the ninja and Ash wouldn't be so obsessed with Greninja," Bonnie grumbled, stumbling back into the Shellder tent. "See you in five minutes."

A few uncomfortable seconds had passed since Bonnie excused herself and slipped back into her sleeping bag, wherein Clemont, Serena, and Pikachu were still looking at her direction before exchanging blank glances.

"Well… Time to get ready for the day," Clemont proposed. "Serena, mind helping me set up breakfast?"

"Sure, just let me get tidied up first," Serena replied, stepping back into her tent. "I'll make sure Bonnie's up and ready."

"Thanks," Clemont said, returning to his tent to dress up and gather his cooking instruments.

It only took him barely five minutes to get ready for the day and to begin setting up breakfast for the group. He had restarted the fire at the center of their camp and prepared to cook just as Serena emerged from the girls' tent fully dressed, save it for her fedora hat. Clemont caught sight of Bonnie sitting up and awake with Dedenne chittering at her side. Squishy hopped out ahead to do its usual business of finding a solidary spot to sunbathe.

In a matter of moments, Clemont and Serena were halfway finished in making breakfast for themselves and their Pokémon as Bonnie soon emerged from the Shellder tent dressed up as well. Stretching her arms high above her head, she was ready for a brand new day of adventure. The food was set on the table and every Pokémon food bowl filled for each current member.

"Is Ash not back yet?" Bonnie asked as she joined her brother at the table, to which he shook his head.

"I think we should wait until he and Greninja get back," Serena suggested.

"The food's going to get cold, though," Clemont cautioned. "He mentioned to me at one point that in the event that he's still out training, we're allowed to start ahead as long as we save plenty for him when he returns."

"I guess he would say something like that, but it still doesn't feel right starting without him," Serena argued.

"They should be back in a bit," Clemont assured. "Why don't we just sit down and take the time to reflect?"

"Sounds fine with me," Serena agreed with a pleased smile. "What about you, Bonnie?"

"Aw, but I'm hungry," Bonnie whined, accompanied with a gloomy face from Dedenne. "I wish Ash would hurry it up then. It's not right."

"Don't worry about her," Clemont mediated guiltily towards Serena, who was a bit disconcerted from the little girl's mood. "Bonnie sometimes get cranky when not fed on time after waking up."

"I'm not 'cranky' about being hungry!" Bonnie rebutted. "I just don't like what Ash is doing to Pikachu!"

"What?!" Clemont and Serena coughed at the sudden accusation, followed up with mixed alarmed reactions from Pikachu and the rest of the Pokémon.

"Come on! You guys can see it, so stop acting like there's nothing wrong!" Bonnie continued, frustrated at their attempts at denial. "Ash has been spending _too_ much time with Greninja lately. Getting that fusion power is all he cares about now! What about Pikachu? What about his other Pokémon?! His Noibat just evolved and he's not going to even train it?!"

"Bonnie, you got to calm down," Clemont warned her as firm and as loving as he could. "How Ash decides to train his Pokémon is up to him."

"B-But…!"

"Look, I understand your concern and I'm sure Pikachu and the others and grateful for your concern, but you must remember that Ash _does_ care for all his Pokémon, even if he doesn't seem to show it right now."

"He's right, Bonnie," Serena intervened calmingly.

"Pii Pikachu," Pikachu responded in affirming their beliefs, along with Noivern, Talonflame, and Hawlucha in the background.

"I… I still don't understand," Bonnie cried out, small tears trickling from the corners of her innocent eyes. "How are you guys so confident about that?"

"You probably don't understand it well enough because you're not a Pokémon Trainer, but every Trainer forms a special bond with the Pokémon he or she catches," Clemont explained. "Remember that Pikachu is Ash's first Pokémon, so of course they have a very unique bond to them."

"Yeah, like how I love all of my Pokémon in their special ways," Serena added, glancing to her happy trio of performers. "I've spent a lot of time lately with Sylveon, which was why we're so close the way we are now and how Eevee was able to evolve in the first place. But of course, my heart has a special place for Braixen for being my first Pokémon and another special place for Pancham for being the first Pokémon I caught."

"Listen, if you still have trouble understanding, maybe we should talk about it," Clemont offered, kneeling down to her eye level. "It would be right for me as your big brother to tell you these things."

Sniffling and shaking a bit, Bonnie managed a nod and had allowed Clemont to lead her to a secluded spot at the corner of their campsite for a sibling heart-to-heart. The tension in the atmosphere that had previously pressed down on everyone at camp had gradually lightened up and the Pokémon resumed chatting among one another.

Serena was at ease with Bonnie having calmed down. She then glanced down at Pikachu, who kept looking up at the trees as though he was expecting Ash and Greninja to finally return. He didn't bother socializing with the others as he would usually do. Feeling that there might be a possible issue left behind, the Vaniville Town Performer hatched an idea.

"Hey, Pikachu," Serena began, prompting the Mouse Pokémon's attention upon her. "Would you mind walking with me for a bit before Ash comes back? I actually want to talk to you about something."

"Pika," Pikachu consented.

"Great!" Serena exclaimed, turning to where her Pokémon were. "Braixen, would you mind watching the others while Pikachu and I step out for a bit? Just until either Clemont or I return."

"Bray!" Braixen replied resolutely.

Feeling that the campsite was it good hands, or paws rather, Serena led Pikachu towards the open field area where the road to their next destination continued. They ventured a few meters apart, finding the nearest buried flat rock to sit upon.

As Serena took her seat, Pikachu gingerly climbed onto her lap. Similarly to what Ash would do, she softly scratched behind his ears, eliciting a gratified squeal from him. Serena simply smiled and continued to scratch behind the ears and occasionally under his chin.

"I wasn't sure how you would like it, but I'm glad it made you happy," Serena commented.

Once she pulled her hand away, Pikachu sat up straight on her lap and gazed upon her imploringly. What did she want with him anyway?

"Pika-chu?" Pikachu prompted.

"Pikachu, I feel like I need to say something about what's been happening," Serena admitted. "And no, I don't believe that Ash is neglecting you or anyone for Greninja. I think even you know that despite what Bonnie said, but I just want to make sure."

"Pii," Pikachu mused thoughtfully.

"Take it from someone who's been working really hard to get his attention," Serena said, giving a wry smile as an afterthought. "You know, it kinda makes me sound pathetic when it's put like that." Serena then felt really self-conscious about the last statement and covered her mouth while coming up with something to give Pikachu a better image of her, not like it mattered what he thought of her as from what she said. Like Ash, he cared more about who she was and what she has done. "You know, I really had nothing going for me until Ash came to Kalos and I pushed myself to find him. And traveling with you guys helped me find a purpose in life, something that _I_ want to work for instead of what others would expect me to be, like my mom with Rhyhorn Racing."

"Pikah…"

"To be honest, Pikachu, I'm actually jealous of how close you are with Ash. I mean, I know he's not going to forget about you just because he's focused on training another Pokémon, and yet, he didn't even remember me back at Santalune City. Then again, I don't think I even properly introduced myself to him back at Professor Oak's Summer Camp years ago. His first impression of me might have something like, 'Geez, what a crybaby over a bruised knee' or something like that… Oh, here I go running my mouth again."

Serena didn't want to voice those particular thoughts aloud, so she wound up covering mouth while mentally smacking herself silly.

"Pika?" Pikachu questioned, somewhat worried about her strange behavior.

"You've probably been through stuff like this before with all your adventures," Serena resumed graciously. "It's just something that Bonnie is not used to. Point is that even a rookie Trainer like me can tell that you and Ash are true friends for life. I know you two will work hard for future challenges and there might come a time that, heaven forbid, we all go our separate ways once the Kalos League is over." The honey-blond-haired Performer took a deep, shaky breath, banishing unwanted emotions of depression and anxiety. Her body trembled in an attempt to maintain composure. "I don't know really how Clemont would feel about it. I can already imagine and hear Bonnie's reaction. And… well, I don't feel ready to let go. A-And I just don't want to let go… of any of you… especially Ash."

"Pii-kachu," Pikachu mumbled, keeping a neutral look, though gave way to pleasure when Serena started to pet around the base of his tail.

"… I think my mouth has a mind of its own sometimes," Serena sighed, shaking her head while still moving her hand along Pikachu's tail. "I really didn't want to bring that up right now. But we can't really run from that possibility, can we?"

While she expected an answer from Pikachu, she suddenly felt him slip out of her lap. The force felt unexpectedly drastic, as if the Mouse Pokémon was literally ripped out of her grasp. Recovering from her brief flinch, Serena discovered the source of the sensation in the form of an extendible metal cord with a large rubber hand at the end of it.

Within the hand's grasp was a distressed Pikachu.

Gathering her wits together, Serena got to her feet to confront the culprits she knew would in charge of such an underhanded crime. Her suspicions were only confirmed by hearing that ridiculous laugh of triumph whenever they supposedly succeed in catching Pikachu with their horrible devices.

"Oh, give me a break!" Serena grumbled, looking up to see that accursed hot air balloon in the air.

"Prepare for trouble! Take your twerpy break today!"

"And make it double! We'll crash this story either way!"

"To protect the world from clichéd drama!"

"To unite all viewers with tales of trauma!"

"To denounce the evils of boring reads!"

"To extend our reach to starring leads!"

"Water Shuriken!

"Water!"

"Shuriken! … Wait a moment! Those aren't our names! Jessie!"

"HUH?!"

Several large throwing stars of condensed water were tossed right into the hot air balloon, leaving noticeable gash marks on the basket and giving the occupants quite the wild ride from those impacts while one Water Shuriken severed the robotic arm that captured Pikachu.

Serena watched in wonder as she saw the caster of the Water Shuriken land right next to her while a very close friend of hers ran past her to save Pikachu from his fall. Her Braixen ran up to her, having followed the two to the scene.

"Why haven't we done this more often?" Serena whispered to herself. "Team Rocket's had this coming for a long time now."

"Hey! Who said you can do dat?!" Meowth wailed, attempting to stand over the basket ledge and recover from the ambush. "We didn't even get to da best part: mine!"

"I thought there was supposed to be honor among twerps!" James whined, unable to regain his balance and falling hard on his bottom. "Oh, woe is me…"

"You're starting to become like that rude twerp from Sinnoh!" Jessie protested. "Attacking us mid-motto like that?! You're supposed to be better than that!"

"We're really not in the mood to deal with you crooks," Ash rebutted with Pikachu safely in his arms. "How about you take the message and leave us alone! Pikachu, use Thunderbolt! Greninja, Water Shuriken!"

"Braixen, use Fire Blast!" Serena commanded.

The three powerful attacks casted simultaneously had collided into the Meowth hot-air balloon before anyone from Team Rocket could further object.

 _*BOOM*_

"We're blasting off again!" the trio cried as they were flung into a wide distance once more.

 _*Ding*_

"You all right, Pikachu?" Ash asked, to which the Mouse Pokémon responded with a thumbs-up. "I'm glad you're safe, buddy. Guess I haven't been paying as much attention to you as I should have. Otherwise, you wouldn't have been easily nabbed by Team Rocket."

"Pika Pika," Pikachu waved off, already forgiving for his best friend.

"If anyone's at fault, it's me for not being attentive to their surprise attack," Serena intervened. "I wanted to spend some time with Pikachu, so we came out here away from the campsite. I'm sorry, Ash."

"Still, thanks for always being there for us and for looking after Pikachu, Serena," Ash commended. "I think I'm actually going to take a break from training for a bit, at least with Greninja. I'm sure Greninja would appreciate it after all the pushing I've done to understand that power."

"Gre-nin," Greninja mumbled with a hand wave, admitting to being exhausted from the nonstop training of recent.

He felt the need to catch a momentary breather by falling to his knees. Just as he was about to fall due to the excessive early morning training, the Ninja Pokémon found himself caught and held up by the smaller Braixen with one of his arms over her shoulders. The Fox Pokémon merely shone a pleasant smile back upon catching his gaze on her. Greninja could've also sworn a bit of a light red hue also shone from her cheeks, to which he attempted to look away nonchalantly and pretended not to notice.

It didn't help that the same sensations were slowly lighting upon his own cheeks. The hues complimented his tongue scarf rather well.

"Well, Pikachu is always up for a round of training," Serena suggested helpfully. "There's also your newly evolved Noivern, not to mention your other two strong Flying-types. Aren't you going to measure where they are now in strength?"

"Definitely a good idea," Ash remarked as Pikachu jumped back on his usual shoulder perch. "I'm also sorry for taking a bit long with the training. I didn't realize that you wouldn't start eating without me, even though I said you can if I get caught up on training."

"It didn't feel right starting without you," Serena replied with a shrug.

"We shouldn't keep the others waiting then," Ash concluded, gesturing to her to walk alongside him.

Smiling ever so brightly from the subtle, but warm invitation, Serena eagerly joined his side while her Braixen and Ash's Greninja were walking behind them. Once the campsite was within site, they found Clemont reheating some of the food while Bonnie and the rest of the Pokémon were waving out to them for their return.

Ash and Pikachu were quick to run ahead and join with the gang. Serena took chase as well after giving off an amused giggle. Ash had gone up to Clemont and offered to take the remaining food to the table. Pikachu had hopped off and started conversing with Dedenne, Chespin, and Sylveon. Since her evolution, the Intertwining Pokémon was a lot more outgoing than ever before, finally giving Chespin a chance for friendship instead of shying away from him.

"All's well that ends well," Serena commented, pleased to see everyone so happy and settled in.

"One thing has just begun and that's spring, Serena," a sneaky voice from the side of her waist whispered.

For some reason, the Vaniville Town Performer felt apprehensive.

"Hmm?"

"People say that one sign that spring's here is that love is in the air… And others say that Pokémon often take after their Trainers from personalities right down to their feelings… With what looks like Greninja and Braixen getting together and Sylveon starting to take a shine to Pikachu, I wonder what those say about you and Ash…"

"B-Bonnie!"

"I regret nothing!" (;p)

Ash and Clemont glanced over to where the spectacle was happening, wondering why Bonnie was running around and laughing like a maniac while Serena was chasing her with a desperate expression on her face.

The boys simply shrugged it off and resumed with getting breakfast ready.

* * *

 **Having recently watched the old AG season episode,** _ **Having a Wailord of a Time**_ **, helped properly guide out on how this was going to be written.**

 **In any case, I wanted to write something that was a decent testament to the bond that Ash and Pikachu still share, even with all the hype of Ash-Greninja and receiving Noivern going on (Not saying those as bad things, of course, but just wanted to remind people not to forget about humble little Pikachu). With a Kalos team like his and his personal growth the way it is, he seems poised to win a Pokémon League this time, but I won't be disappointed if he does lose. It'd be interesting to see what the series has next for them.**

 **Speaking of current events, thoughts on the announced** _ **Pokémon Sun and Moon**_ **, like what the region would be based off of this time or new gaming mechanics similar to Mega Evolution? I won't be able to play it since I don't a 3DS (just a Wii U), but I'll certainly keep my eyes and ears peeled for more news.**

 **Please take the time to review this one-shot if you would!**

 **L-ater!**


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